The beauty of keeping a garden journal is not in the time it takes to compile your data, but in having the permanent ability to look back and see what transpired. Heck, it even feels good to know that you kicked butt (if you did) and got stuff done (if you did)! Back when I was plotting and planning the garden last winter, I made a spreadsheet (old habits die hard) to help me visualize how it all would work. This proved to be an invaluable tool for planning seed purchases, harvest cycles, working with the space and making my life easier once things started rolling. I just kept tweaking it as things evolved and now it stands as a record of this year's activity.

Once the dust settled, I quick made some notes about plant varieties, to aid in plant selections for next year. This list is called Hits and Misses. That's it. That's my garden journal. That's all I need to plan crop rotation, seed management and prepare harvest strategies. It's important to not bog yourself down in this process. DO keep track of what you planted. DO make notes about what worked and what didn't. Take LOTS of pictures! DON'T sweat the small stuff! If you are enjoying the process, then your garden is working! If you had a tough year due to pests or lack of rain, keep the faith. As the saying goes...there's always next year!

This past summer I started a new job. The biggest change about my new position is that instead of working primarily with businesses, I’m working directly with the public. I’m learning that if you want to know what is going on in the world, you don’t have to read a newspaper or go on the internet, you need to go to ground zero. Talk to regular people and you’ll get an education. A huge part of the “greening” of our society has to do with the Great Recession. I will not go into politics here (and I hope you will refrain also), but we can probably all agree that times are tough. Many of us have reacted by digging up our yards and planting things we can eat. We are raising chickens. We are canning. We are cutting back. It’s pioneer days and back to basics. For some of us, this is business as usual. For others, it is JUST IN CASE. Just in case something bad happens and we are left to our own devices. Just in case we can’t buy what we need from the grocery store. Just in case fuel isn’t available and money becomes worthless. We are preparing for the collapse of Something, and are working diligently to make sure we will be amongst the survivors. In fact, few of us would last a month in any of those scenarios. Which brings me back to the new job. Working with the public has reminded me of one simple thing: survival depends on our ability to maintain Community. I have heard some very sad stories of how these hard times have affected regular people. I spoke with a girl who told me her family had to move out of their apartment because they could no longer afford it. She and her sister were going to be living with friends while her parents were trying to find another place to live. I’ve seen people paying bills for their friends, to help them through a rough spot. I talked with a lady who wanted to know if there was any place she could find a coat for her grandson who didn’t have one. I had a conversation with a gentleman who called me from the hospital where he was recovering from a work injury (he fell through a roof), he was concerned with getting back home so he could get his mail and pay his bills. These stories all share one common thread. The need for Community. It is how we will all get through rough times. It isn’t enough to survive as individuals. If any of us have the opportunity to help someone else, we should grab it. Share our surplus. Offer assistance. Run an errand for someone who can’t manage it. Foster a pet for someone who can’t afford it. You won’t have to look far to find someone in need, everyone is hurting right now. Someday we might be on the receiving end of someone else’s good will. That is ok too. As long as we all look out for each other, the debt will be paid. Working together as a community will make the recovery so much sweeter. Go ahead and plant that garden and bake your own bread. It’s a wonderful thing to do. But don’t forget to check on your neighbor, friend, family member and coworker. This IS about survival. It IS about paying it forward. But it’s also how we were raised and if we are truly going back to basics, this should be the very first stop on our journey.Join me on my journey to find ways to live sustainably at www.facebook.com/thepocketfarmer .

If you are lucky, you still have farmers coming to the market with their fresh picked harvest. It's late in the season and there won't be as many vendors, or as much produce, but if they have something to sell, they'll show up. The market is a fascinating place. At first, it looks a bit intimidating. There is a bunch of stuff I've never seen before and sometimes I'm afraid to ask, "What the heck is that?", not wanting to show my incompetence. However, if you continue to go, over time you'll see the subtlety of the ebb and flow of vendors and patrons. What I love about the market, besides the produce, are the people. If you spend 5 minutes talking with a farmer, you'll leave that conversation very humbled. Think you've had a rough week? Listen to the story of the farmer who lost his whole apple crop to a blossom frost, the same spring he lost his wife of 50 years and yet he has the most gorgeous apples to sell you because he just drove 200 miles to get them. He's still got the best price and yes, he misses her. The farmers had a lot of trouble this year with the cold Spring and late tomatoes, just like we did. However, since it is their livelihood, it's Trouble x 100. Some farmers had to plant their corn 3 times. The first two plantings got washed out by the rain. With record high corn prices, the third planting will help them break even. That's a lot of work for no profit. One farmer lost his whole field of pumpkins to squash bugs. Shame on me for complaining about losing a zuchini plant to the pests. It's always fun to talk with the lady who bakes every kind of bread, pastry and cookie you can imagine. She grinds her own flour, makes everything fresh for market. Her young sons are always there chatting up customers and handing out samples. We love the little guy, maybe 10 years old, he is a pro already, flipping out a wad of cash to hand you your change. Farmer Tom says her biscuits and gravy are to die for. We always stop there just before we head home. It was cold and windy at the market yesterday. Winter was on everyone's mind. Several vendors said this was their last week. Prices were very low. My Princess Stanley pumpkin that I've fussed over all summer? Those were going for a $1.50. My birdhouse gourds? A buck. I grabbed a bunch of tomatoes, pears and apples, even though I didn't need them. I just want to be sure I canned enough to last until next season. Our society takes a lot of things for granted. We are used to getting our food, in season or out of season, whenever we want it. We complain about prices. We don't appreciate the huge losses a farmer endures in order to get us our "organic" product. For many, rain is nothing but a nuisance. For farmers, rain can be a king maker or breaker. Next time you wander through the produce aisle at the supermarket, take a moment to think about our farmers. Better yet, if you still have a farmers' market active in your area, thank a farmer in person. Today will be a bonus canning day. For that, I have a farmer to thank.

Goodbye is never easy. It feels so permanent and cold. Like nothing good will come after goodbye. And once you say goodbye, you can no longer pretend that nothing is going to change. Maybe that's why we dislike it so much. Goodbye, is all about change. As I've chronicled my garden journey this year in words and pictures, (at www.facebook.com/thepocketfarmer ) it had taken on a life of it's own. It had all the elements of comedy and tragedy, to keep me interested and intrigued, day after day. Would the tomatoes ever ripen? Will Princess Stanley ever get a sibling? Does the lettuce always have to grow where I didn't plant it? Will it rain? Will it stop raining? It kept me hopping too! The cycle of gardening: garden prep, planting, cultivating, harvesting and canning, was a push to the finish. From June through September, I never had a spare moment. Even now, in it's waning days, there is still work to do. But it feels leisurely, not frantic. And I'm finding it hard to let go. I will miss the escape from the real world troubles, job angst, and pressures that life brings. Along with raising our chickens this year, the garden has saved my sanity. I couldn't fix the national debt or bring our soldiers home, but I could grow a watermelon, damnit! Worried about the stock market? Not when I have 30 lbs of tomatoes to can. Price of feed skyrocketing? Just watching the corn grow, took the edge off of that worry. And so it went, all summer long. Now change is coming. The leaves are turning, the vines are dying, the nights are getting colder. I suppose if gardening was a year 'round event, it wouldn't seem so special. But because the window of opportunity is so small here, you have to jump all in. There were days when I was so tired that I thought, enough already! A quick peek into the cabinet though, was all I needed to get back on track. All those jars of lovely garden goodness just waiting to be popped open! It's a beautiful payoff. Time marches on and it will not spare the garden. But instead of goodbye, I'll say, "So long, for now." I'll stay busy planning for next year and saving seeds. I still have walnuts to crack, gourds to paint, recipes to research. I'd like to build that arbor by the gate and for sure, we'll get that irrigation line installed. More trees to plant and ideas to hatch. It'll be a busy off-season. I've only got 8 months! Whew, I better get started! So long, my garden friend. I'll miss you. Hurry back!

It seems a lifetime ago, and in fact, it's been about 5 months, since we were working on our main chicken coop. If you don't remember those frantic days, you can catch up here http://blog.poultrykeeper.com/pocket-farmer-blog/coop-dreams/ and here http://blog.poultrykeeper.com/pocket-farmer-blog/plan-d-formerly-known-as-plan-a/ . We have come full circle. The rush of the summertime garden and harvest season has finally eased and we are now back to the task of finishing the coop. Not much time to spare, as freezing temperatures are right around the corner. Since we are rehabbing an existing structure, everything seems to take longer than if we were building new. You have to work around someone else's construction skills, or lack thereof. You have to repair, retrofit and replace as you go. Perpendicular, parallel and level? Um, not so much. Our new standard is called Good Enough. We have a lot yet to do. We have to finish insulating the walls. Put in a new floor. Replace windows. Build the interior infrastructure (roosts, boxes, walls). Finish the outside run. Run electric out and wire all the fixtures and outlets. We also need to finish hanging the siding and paint. There will be two sections, one for the boys (west wing) and one for the girls (east wing). Chances are, we'll be fighting the weather again. Spring was a disaster for building, it rained constantly. Fall will be more rain and cold temps. Hopefully, we will prevail this time. I can't wait for our chickens to finally have their permanent home. Here is the coop, before we started on the project and the last time we worked on it. Check out our entire coop construction project at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.158081120917580.34685.136629003062792

Hi, I'm Sue Pranskus, and this is my sometime blog. It's mostly about my attempts to "green-up" my life. On our little farm we experiment with livestock, gardening, building, repurposing and anything else that we find interesting. Born and bred on the West Coast, I am living in the Midwest by choice, not circumstance. I have built a life based largely on core values and loosely on whimsy. It's that whimsy, though, that gets me in trouble every time!